Conakry (AFP)
The first episode of the Marburg virus in West Africa, a hemorrhagic fever almost as deadly as Ebola, officially ended on Thursday, 42 days after the identification of the 1st and only case in Guinea, the organization said. World Health Organization (WHO).
The presence of the virus, transmitted by bats, was discovered in samples taken from a man who died in early August in Forest Guinea, in the south of the country.
"More than 170 high-risk contact cases have been followed for 21 days," the WHO said in a statement.
"Marburg, which is in the same family as Ebola, is transmitted to humans by fruit bats (bats) and is spread among humans through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people, surfaces and materials," according to the text.
Although there are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat the virus, oral or intravenous rehydration and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival rates.
"In Africa, previous epidemics and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda," recalls the WHO.
The first Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the deadliest since the virus was identified in 1976, also broke out in December 2013 in Forest Guinea, not ending until 2016 after having spread. to ten countries and causing more than 11,300 deaths, an undervalued balance sheet by the WHO itself.
Marburg virus disease Alain BOMMENEL AFP / Archives
This is also where a resurgence of this disease occurred in 2021, officially ended in June, and which killed 12 people.
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